By late afternoon Disney released a statement saying it would withdraw its “Día de los Muertos” trademark applications.

Gustavo Arellano, author of the syndicated column “Ask a Mexican,” said, “The Latino market is such that already there were calls for protest, boycotts and all that and Disney knows better than to poke at the so-called ‘sleeping giant.’”

This is the story of modern Southern politics. From the end of Reconstruction through the civil rights revolution, the South was an almost uniformly Democratic region. In 1936, for example, Franklin Roosevelt won more than 98 percent of the vote in South Carolina. Race wasn’t the only reason for the South’s shift toward the GOP, but it was the biggest single driver. In 1948, northern liberals inserted a civil rights plank into the national Democratic platform, prompting a walkout of Southern delegations – which then coalesced around the third party Dixiecrat candidacy of Strom Thurmond. An uneasy truce between national and Southern Democrats was reached after that election, but it was untenable. When LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the modern Southern GOP was born. Nationally, LBJ crushed Barry Goldwater in the fall of ’64, racking up more than 60 percent of the popular vote. But Goldwater carried five Southern states – winning 59 percent in South Carolina, 69 percent in Alabama and 87 percent in Mississippi.

It took a long time for the basic pattern established in ’64 to be reflected up and down the ballot, but today white Southerners are almost as loyal to the Republican Party as they once were to the Democrats. GOP presidential candidates customarily win more than 70 percent of the white vote in the South, success that in the past two decades has at last trickled down to the local and state legislative levels. This is particularly true in the Deep South, which encompasses South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Exit polling was intermittent last November, but in Mississippi Mitt Romney gobbled up 89 percent of the white vote; with Barack Obama winning 96 percent of the black vote, this translated into a 55-44 percent Romney win in the state.

In this environment, Democratic success in the Deep South is mostly limited to district-level races in majority black areas. A number of African-American Democrats represent the region in the U.S. House, with districts created and protected by the Voting Rights Act. But where white voters constitute majorities, affiliation with the Democratic Party is often the kiss of death for a candidate.

“So, you know, I figured it was a domestic-violence dispute,” Charles Ramsey told a reporterfor the ABC affiliate in Cleveland, explaining what happened after, as he put it, he “heard screaming. I’m eating McDonald’s. I see this girl going nuts trying to get out of the house.” Ramsey, and others who gathered, helped her break open the door, kicking it from the bottom. She told them her name, Amanda Berry. She had been kidnapped at the age of seventeen, ten years ago. There were two other women in the house, Gina Dejesus, who is now twenty-three, and Michelle Knight, now thirty, who had also been held for a decade. There was at least one small child.

Ramsey’s 911 call is transfixing. “Yeah hey bro,” it begins, “hey, check this out.” His intensity, the McDonald’s shout-out, his undoubtedly loose paraphrase of Berry’s account (“This motherfucker done kidnapped me and my daughter”), and also his competence (he does a better job with the essentials like the address than the 911 operator) make him one of those instantly compelling figures who, in the middle of an American tragedy, just start talking—and then we can’t stop listening. (See Ruslan Tsarni, Ashley Smith.) But one phrase in particular, from the interview, is worth dwelling on: “I figured it was a domestic-violence dispute.” In many times and places, a line like that has been offered as an excuse for walking away, not for helping a woman break down your neighbor’s door.

This weekend, Cee found himself in the media again for allegedly soliciting sex from an undercover cop, with conflicting reports on whether the officer was male or female. Monday morning, Cee went on Hot 97 to discuss the controversy. For over 40 minutes, Cee endured a verbal witch-hunt from his radio colleagues. Interviewed by Ebro Darden, and seemingly less concerned with the illegal activity of prostitution, Darden dramatically and repeatedly demanded to know if Cee was gay — as if he were accusing the deejay of murder. To soften the blow, Darden added, “we’re going to crack some jokes because you’re our brother.” And to mock Cee a bit more, another deejay, Cipha Sounds, played the house anthem “Follow Me,” a song known for its popularity in gay clubs.

Listening to the program, I thought to myself: If Cee is gay, embarrassment and a demand for the truth are not helpful. Who would shout they are “here and queer” during an interview like the one on Hot 97?

Clearly mocking their “brother” in crisis, the hosts sprinkled a little “we don’t care if you’re gay” babble — but it seemed as if they did care, all while enjoying interrogating Mister Cee, soaking up the glow of their “exclusive interview.” Cee sounded desperate, confused and weakly attempted to explain himself personally and legally. It was sad to hear; but this is the culture of hip-hop.

Award-winning blogger Asif Mohiuddin and three other bloggers have become the latest target of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, according to online news site online news siteTimesworld24.com [bn]. The commission recently contacted Somewhereinblog.net, the largest blogging platform in Bangladesh, requesting that the four blogs be taken down from the site.

In a report on its website, Somewhereinblog.net officially acknowledged that it had removed the four blogs in line with the government request.

The Bangladesh government formed [bn] a nine-member committee on March 13, 2013 to track bloggers and Facebook users who made derogatory remarks about Islam and the Prophet Muhammad. The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, a member of the committee, has requested information on a number of bloggers from different blogging platforms in an effort to ban certain writers considered insulting to Islam or anarchistic.

Former DCP head of fashion and home products Pam Lifford, former chief financial officer Anne Gates, and former DCP HR exec Susan Cole Hill were all represented by the same attorney with the Pasadena law firm Hadsell, Stormer, Keeny, Richardson and Rennick which has sued Disney in other employee rights cases. According to my sources, the three women, who are all African Americans, referred to themselves as “The Help” – a reference to last summer’s hit DreamWorks movie distributed by Disney and set during the civil rights movement about black maids in Mississippi.The reorganization took place in September 2011 but the negotiations for the exit settlements dragged on. Some insiders claim the law firm didn’t return Disney’s calls because it first wanted a story damaging to Perlmutter to appear in the media. An article appeared on Thursday, and Disney and Marvel and Perlmutter now are in damage control mode. Financial Times LA-based correspondent Matthew Garrahan broke the news about these three African-American female execs, their respective job status after their boss Andy Mooney was replaced as the head of DCP, and their hiring an attorney. At the time he wrote that only one of the three women had settled with Disney.

But the FT story also reported that, when African-American actor Terrence Howard was replaced by African-American actor Don Cheadle in the role of Colonel Jim Rhodes for “Iron Man 2″, “Perlmutter apparently told Mr. Mooney the change cut costs. He allegedly added words to the effect that no one would notice because black people ‘look the same’,” Garrahan wrote. A Marvel spokesperson told the FT in a statement: “Mr. Perlmutter and all of Marvel have a long record of diversity in the workplace and on movie sets around the world as evidenced by both Mr. Perlmutter’s own history and Marvel’s management team.”

- From “Disney And Marvel Do Damage Control After Media Scrutiny Of Big Boss Ike Perlmutter,” at Deadline.com

That’s Tiana, from Disney’s The Princess & The Frog–which longtime readers will recall we focused on quiteabit when it was released three years ago–on the package for a new set of candy. The watermelon flavor.

I look at these images as I do hentai and plushies: some people getting off on the frisson of (hyper)sexualized ideals of taboo images and items connoted to belong to the kiddie world, like Disney cartoons and stuffed animals. So, I do understand the squick with seeing these resemblances of lust-inspiring Calvin Klein and Armani underwear images because it’s like fucking with someone’s childhood. And childhood, regardless of quite a few people’s realities about their early years on this earth, is held as sacrosanct in its idyllic innocence—especially sexual innocence– in US culture. Continue reading →

Disney’s new film “The Princess and the Frog” has sparked a lot of conversation primarily because Tiana, the princess is black. As adults we have plenty to say about the effects of the film, whether it’ll impact young black girls in a positive manner and if it portrays black folks/New Orleans/voodoo objectively.

That’s all well and good, but I think it’s vitally important to hear what someone from the film’s target audience has to say. TH, my fabulous assistant, went on a fieldtrip with several kindergarten and first-grade classes from her school to see the film. She was kind enough to take some time out from her hectic schedule to answer a few questions.

*Please note, TH is five, so her discussion of the film is probably not in sequential order and she probably only remembered the parts she liked. We’re working on those skills.

SH: So I hear you went to see a movie today. What was the name of it again?

More than a year before its debut, “The Princess and the Frog” set tongues wagging. Some were overjoyed that Disney finally dedicated a feature to a black princess. Others criticized the studio’s history of racial gaffes in films such as “Aladdin” and “The Jungle Book” and wondered if Disney could change its track record with the “Princess and the Frog.” Some specifically took issue with “Princess” because the heroine, Tiana, spends more time on screen as a frog than as a black woman; because her prince, Naveen, isn’t black; and because the film portrays Voodoo questionably.

Now that the film’s out, what’s the verdict? Were these concerns warranted? Racialicious correspondents Nadra Kareem and Andrea Plaid recently caught a viewing of the film and dialogued about its merits and shortcomings. They also discussed whether “Princess,” which grossed $25 million its opening weekend, will be the first and last Disney production to feature an African-American heroine. That’s because, despite topping the box office when it came out, “Princess” sold far fewer tickets than recent Disney fare such as “Enchanted” did upon its release.

Nadra and Andrea are still working on their response/conversation about the Princess & the Frog, but we have received requests for a conversation. Consider this open thread a place holder.

Some things of note:

Jeff Yang and I had a long (think two hours) conversation about the Princess and the Frog, the nature of Princess, media versus non black media, and all kinds of other topics. A few snippets of the discussion made it into Jeff’s Asian Pop column for the San Francisco Chronicle. But what stood out to Jeff the most upon viewing the film wasn’t racial politics. It was conservatism, which he writes about a bit on his blog:

During the five-year runup to the movie’s ultimate release, conservative critics have regularly lambasted the project as an exercise in political correctness and knee-jerk, quota-driven multiculturalism. Well, the film’s here—and as much as I enjoyed watching it, I have a sneaking suspicion that far from being rejected by the Right, the movie’s going to end up as a GOP cause celebre.

I don’t want to give away any spoilers, because this is a film that really should be watched through eyes sparkling with innocent wonder. But the way the movie’s key themes and plot points map out to Republican talking points is really pretty stunning.

Tiana is a bootstrapping entrepreneur who refuses to ask for charity, preferring to work two jobs to make her small-business dreams come true.

She castigates those who rely on others for welfare, and only changes her ruggedly individualist outlook when she’s pointedly reminded of the importance of having a family—and finding a suitable partner in life.

Race, Culture, and Identity in a Colorstruck World

About This Blog

Racialicious is a blog about the intersection of race and pop culture. Check out our daily updates on the latest celebrity gaffes, our no-holds-barred critique of questionable media representations, and of course, the inevitable Keanu Reeves John Cho newsflashes.

Latoya Peterson (DC) is the Owner and Editor (not the Founder!) of Racialicious, Arturo García (San Diego) is the Managing Editor, Andrea Plaid (NYC) is the Associate Editor. You can email us at team@racialicious.com.